NEW YORK  When they first came out for afternoon warm-ups at Citi Field on Wednesday, players from both the Padres and New York Mets were dressed more for one of those outdoor NHL games, rendered virtually unidentifiable by ski masks covering all but their eyes. Somebody could’ve gotten a paper cut from the sheer velocity of hot-dog wrappers being wind-whipped around the playing field.

Not tonight, longtime New York baseball aficionados agreed. There would definitely be no home runs tonight.

Yes. Yes. Yes. There would.

Clayton Richard was on the mound for the Padres, and as determined as he was to to shake the status as the National League pitcher who gives up the most home runs, two-run shots by Lucas Duda, John Buck and Ike Davis proved more than the Mets needed for an 8-4 win that kept the Padres winless after two games of 2013. In the process, they've been outscored 19-6.

"I felt really good coming in today, felt good warming up," said Clayton. "I got out there and it wasn't there. It's not how you envision your first start, for sure."

Conversely, the Padres swung some timid bats, managing just one hit and striking out 10 times over seven innings against right-hander Matt Harvey. The Mets starter faced the minimum number of hitters through 6 2/3, picking off Everth Cabrera after his fourth-inning single and getting a double-play grounder from Carlos Quentin after a walk to Will Venable.

"(Harvey) did a good job," said first baseman Yonder Alonso, who sustained what he called a "minor," non-debilitating elbow injury. "He pounded the zone really quick, throwing strikes right away, right off the get-go. We were swinging at strikes."

Harvey was gone by the time Jedd Gyorko singled in the eighth and eventually scored on Cameron Maybin's grounder. Carlos Quentin's sacrifice fly and a Mets error in the ninth brought home the other three Padres runs.

That the homers Richard allowed in the second (Duda), fourth (Buck) and fifth (Davis) innings came at Citi Field should not be lost in the Padres loss. With a ballpark built entirely too big from the start, the Mets got so tired of hitters grousing that the fences have been brought in by as much as 12 feet in places, the same sort of alteration that awaits the Padres for their home opener at Petco Park next Tuesday.

As the Padres are insisting that Petco will continue to be, Citi Field remains a pitchers' park in the estimation of most, and the finger-numbing conditions Wednesday night strongly suggested that the yard would be back to playing really big for the middle game of this season-opening series.

However, Richard’s primary problem with distance has been the measure of the baseballs struck against him, including a 9-0 loss here last year in which he surrendered two of his league-leading 31 homers.

"To have this happen, when you aren't able to command down in the zone, you get yourself in trouble," said Richard. "So ... kind of a bad night."